SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Genea Nicole Wall lives in City Heights. She says her previous landlord tried to evict her in 2020.
“Those little issues I asked her to work on, she basically said that’s not a priority of mine, and you need to find a place to reside,” Wall said.
Her landlord wanted to complete a substantial remodel. This falls under a ‘no-fault eviction’. It’s when a tenant does nothing wrong but is evicted for something outside of their control.
“So many families are facing the same exact loophole,” Wall said.
Attorney Gilberto Vera says he’s spoken with thousands of San Diegans who were evicted at no fault of their own during the pandemic.
“Throughout the pandemic, it was probably the number one thing city of San Diego tenants were calling legal aid to help with,” Vera said.
The City has created a new proposal that would make it difficult for landlords to serve no-fault evictions. Landlords would have to pay tenants two months' worth of rent. They would also give a 30 to 60-day notice before evicting. These protections would be enacted immediately when the tenant signs the lease.
“The new ordinance would make it stricter by making it take longer to do that eviction, as well as more costly because they now require relocation assistance to be paid to the tenants,” Vera said.
This new ordinance would give more protection to San Diego’s renters than what’s guaranteed by the state.
There’s still a process before these regulations are enacted. The proposal must go before the city council on April 25. If passed, it will go to a second reading on May 15.
